94 NATURE 
[ NOVEMBER 26, 1896 
Davison argued that the fault or faults in the Mino-Owari 
district were outlined before the occurrence of the great earth- 
quake, which was, therefore, only the result of their extension. 
This may have been so, but it must be remembered that before 
1891 the number of shocks occurring in the Mino-Owari plain 
were not numerous ; and as from 1889 to 1891 it cannot be said 
that they increased in number, while their distribution, as 
exhibited by maps, was largely dependent upon the observing- 
stations. Where the maps showed blank spaces, in many cases 
the country was mountainous, and there were no observers. 
Linnean Society, November 5.—Dr. Giinther, F.R.S., 
President, in the chair.—Dr. Morris, C.M.G., Royal Gardens, 
Kew, exhibited specimens and slides illustrating the occurrence of 
raphides in the bulbs of the common hyacinth of gardens 
(Hyacinthus orientalis and varieties). Forms of eczema were 
said to have been produced in persons handling and cleaning 
these bulbs. Although the fact was familiar to gardeners, the 
cause did not appear to have been clearly traced. Experiments 
and observations at the Jodrell Laboratory at Kew had shown 
that both dry and moist scales were capable of producing con- 
siderable irritation in certain cases when applied directly to the 
skin. There was little doubt that the raphides were the prime 
agents. These needle-shaped crystals (composed of oxalate of lime) 
varied from ;t,;th to s};th of an inch in length, and were 
arranged in close bundles, easily dispersed by rubbing the dry 
scales. In the growing plants they were doubtless protective, 
as snails, for instance, avoided hyacinth bulbs, but attacked 
others growing close by. Roman hyacinths (var. a/bz/ws) were 
understood to cause greater irritation than other varieties. Dr. 
D. H. Scott described some experiments which he had tried, 
tending to confirm the conclusion that the irritation of the skin 
produced by contact with the bulb-scales of Hyacinths is due 
immediately to puncture by the numerous raphides.—On behalf 
of Dr. H. B. Hewetson, of Leeds, Mr. Harting exhibited 
photographs of a specimen of Macqueen’s Bustard (O¢zs 
Macqueenz) which had been shot at Easington, in Holderness, 
on October 17 last, and gave a brief account of the species, 
which had now been met with in England for the third time ; 
the first instance of its occurrence having been noticed in Lin- 
colnshire in October 1847, and the second in Yorkshire in 
October 1892.—Mr. Hugh Warrand exhibited a remarkable bird 
which was believed at first to be a hybrid between the Red 
Grouse and Ptarmigan, but which in the opinion of Mr. Ogilvie 
Grant, Mr. Millais, and Mr. Harting, could only be regarded as 
anabnormally pale-coloured grouse. Only one possible instance 
had been recorded of such a hybrid as was suggested, viz. in the 
case of a bird which was exhibited some years ago by Prof. 
Newton to the Zoological Society (P. Z. S., 1878, p. 793) and 
had since been figured by Mr. Millais in his work on Game 
Birds. Aspecimen of the Cream-coloured Courser (Cwussordius 
tsabellinus), an extremely rare visitor to this country from North 
Africa (probably w2@ Spain), which had been shot on Salisbury 
Plain, at Earlstoke, on October 10 last, was exhibited by Mr. 
Harting, who gave particulars of the occurrence, and stated that 
another example of this bird had since been obtained in Bouley 
Bay, Jersey. —A paper by Mr. A. W. Waters, on Mediterranean 
Bryozoa was then read. Dealing in the first place with some 
Cellulartide and other Bryozoa from Rapallo, the paper was to 
some extent a revision of work already published on Mediterra- 
nean Bryozoa. Stress was laid upon the importance of noting 
the position from which the radicle-tube grows, and this was 
found to be a character of specific value.—Dr. S. Schonland 
communicated a paper on some new species of Crassu/a from 
South Africa, which he had obtained from localities which had 
been very rarely visited by botanical collectors, and which were 
believed to be undescribed. Mr. J. G. Baker, who criticised 
the paper, spoke in favourable terms of the care which had 
been taken by the author in its preparation, and thought there 
was sufficient justification for describing the species mentioned 
as new.—A revisionary monograph of the New Zealand 
Holothurians, by Prof. A. Dendy, of Christchurch, N.Z., was 
read. —The Rev. J. Whitmee made some remarks on the Trepang 
fishery in Samoa, where several edible species of Holothurians 
are gathered and prepared for the market, and called attention 
to the well-known fact that a small fish of the genus Azerasfer 
used the body of the Holothurian as a habitation. 
Mathematical Society, November 12 —Major MacMahon, 
R.A , F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The President briefly 
stated the grounds of the award by the Council of the De 
Morgan medal to Mr. S. Roberts, F.R.S. ; and after receiving 
NO. 1413, VOL. 55| 
the medal, Mr. Roberts thanked the Council and the members 
for the honour they had conferred upon him, and said that his 
connection with the Society had been of great service to him.— 
The ballot was then taken, with the result that the gentlemen 
whose names are givenin NATURE for October 22, were declared 
to be duly elected to form the Council for the ensuing session 
—Prof. Elliott, F.R.S., having taken the chair, called upon 
Major MacMahon to read his address, which was on ‘‘ The 
Combinatory Analysis.” Mr. S. Roberts gave, in abstract, an 
account of Herr E. Lasker’s ‘‘Essay on the Geometrical 
Calculus, Part 1.” The titles only of the following papers were 
read, owing to the lateness of the hour :—‘‘ Symbolic Logic,” 
H. MacColl; ‘‘On a General Integral with some physical 
applications,” G. J. Hurst; ‘f On Ratio,” Prof. M. J. M. Hill, 
F.R.S.; ‘*On the Geometrical Construction of Models of 
Cubic Surfaces,” W. H. Blythe ; ‘‘ Theory of Vortex Rings,” 
H. S. Carslaw ; ‘‘ Differentiation of Spherical Harmonics,” 
E. G. Gallop; ‘‘On the Application of Jacobi’s Dynamical 
Method to the General Problem of Three Bodies,” and ‘* On 
certain properties of the mean motions and the secular accelera- 
tions of the principal arguments used in the Lunar Theory,” 
Prof. E. W. Brown ; ‘* Note on the Symmetric Group,” Prof. 
W. Burnside, F.R.S.; ‘‘ Note on the Capacity of a Conductor 
in the form of two intersecting spheres,” W. D. Niven, F.R.S. 
CAMBRIDGE, 
Philosophical Society, October 26.—Prof. Hughes, Vice- 
President, in the chair.—The following elections were made :— 
President: Mr. F. Darwin. Vice-Presidents: Prof. G. D. 
Liveing, Prof. Newton, Prof. J. J. Thomson. Treasurer: Mr. 
Glazebrook. Secretaries: Mr. Newall, Mr. Bateson, Mr. 
Baker. Ordinary Members of Council: Dr. Gaskell, Mr. Marr, 
Mr. Larmor, Dr. Marshall Ward, Mr. Shipley.—Mr. F. 
Darwin, President, then took the chair.—Mr. S. F. Harmer 
exhibited the casts of /geanodon bernissartensis, Boulenger, 
recently presented to the Museum of Zoology by H.M. the 
King of the Belgians. The casts are reproductions of some of 
the famous specimens preserved in the ‘‘ Musée Royal d’ Histoire 
Naturelle de Belgique,” at Brussels. These specimens were 
discovered in April 1878, in the colliery of Bernissart, a 
village situated between Mons and Tournai, close to the 
French frontier. The bones, which are of Wealden age, 
were found at a depth of 356 metres (322 metres below sea- 
level). * Nearly thirty complete skeletons, belonging to full- 
grown individuals, were found at the time of the original dis- 
covery, or ata later period; the great majority belonging to 
I. bernissartensts, and the others to Z. wantel/zZ, well known in 
England through the labours of Mantell, Owen and others. 
Although much had been done in England and elsewhere, 
towards understanding the structure of Zgwanodoz, no skeleton 
which was more than fragmentary had been described before the 
Belgian discoveries were made. Prof. Newton stated that the 
importance attached by many high authorities to the group of 
Dinosaurs known as Ovzithopfoda, from their resemblance in 
several points to the class Aves, had long made him desirous of 
obtaining for the Museum of Zoology a cast of one of the famous 
Belgian /gwanodon skeletons. About a year ago he mentioned 
the subject to the High Steward of the University, who, with his 
accustomed kindness and energy, at once asked Her Majesty's 
Minister at Brussels to find out on what terms the want could be 
supplied. In due time an answer was received by Lord 
Walsingham that this could be done by the University paying 
for the cast or offering in exchange specimens to the value of 
2007. Meanwhile the subject had been also mentioned to the 
late Lord Lilford, who had for many years been so great a 
benefactor to the museum, and he at once addressed the late 
Rev. Horace Waller, well known as a companion of Living- 
stone. Mr. Waller suggested an application to King Leopold 
himself, through his personal friend Sir John Kirk. To this Sir 
John readily consented, and, on His Majesty visiting London 
last winter, made known to him how acceptable the gift of a cast 
would be. The King was graciously pleased to entertain the 
application favourably, and gave orders accordingly, with the 
result that after a short correspondence with M. Dupont, the 
Director of the Museum at Brussels, not a single cast only, but 
the magnificent series now exhibited arrived in the course of the 
summer, and owing to the royal donation having liberally 
included the necessary ironwork, the skeleton was mounted 
without difficulty. Though the thanks of the Senate have been 
most properly offered to H.M. the King of the Belgians for his 
